Securing America and Protecting Civil Liberties - Essay Example

Securing America and Protecting Civil Liberties Name University Securing America and Protecting Civil Liberties The civil liberties of the United States of America were severely shaken after the September 2011 terrorist attacks. Due to this, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was expanded largely, under the U.S.A…

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The paper will shed light on the dynamics of civil liberties and the increasing security level that America needs to fulfill their duty to the nation. In a state of frenzy and panic the Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, six weeks after the 9/11 attack. This was a revision of the nation’s surveillance laws that allowed government further authority to spy on its own citizens. This was also an opportunity for the Congress to install the previously declined laws. The Act nevertheless violates the Constitution in many ways such as the First and Fourth Amendment. The First amendment promises free speech whereas the Fourth says that the government has no right to conduct a search neither without warranty nor without proving that a particular person is accused or responsible for committing a crime. The Act infringed upon the first amendment by allowing the FBI to investigate the American citizens and the fourth amendment, by failing to notify the person whose privacy is being invaded without a pledge. Agencies and organizations that are responsible for security in America include “Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Geospatial-Imagery Agency (NGA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the State Department (INR), the intelligence elements of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the military services and the Energy Department, and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of the Treasury Department, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Coast Guard in DHS” (Best, 2010). In addition to these, which already hold sophisticate and high protocol, The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) was created “to analyze and integrate all intelligence possessed or acquired by any Federal agency” that were related to international terror acts. This appears to be USA in a state of paranoia but it took all measures possible to provide high security to its citizens who did not hesitate immediately after the September attack (Best, 2010). Civil liberties bear an ordinary and remote existence in everyday experiences. But in certain contexts the issue of civil liberties might have a direct impact on peoples’ freedom and sanctuary. Davis believed that “The competing issues in the civil liberties vs. security trade-off are thus fundamental to the very idea of democracy as reflected in the Bill of Rights: that citizens should be protected from the government. Because it is the government’s actions that may clash with individual rights, we expect popular perceptions of government— trust in government, as well as patriotism—to play an important role in determining people’s willingness to trade off civil liberties for security.” (Davis, 2004) The government still struggles with the idea of civil liberty and security because there is a chance of impeachment of one over the other. Clokie argues that the bill of rights needs to be closely analyzed before being misconceived. According to him it is an old remedy brought into practice because it takes a slink into the “past disappointments” (Clokie, 1947). America would go as far as torturing the truth out of the victim even if it takes his life. The violation of the amendments
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According to the research the signing of the Patriot Act led to the infringement of some rights like the right to privacy. The Act favored the executives since the citizens had no say to the implementation of the Act. The court nor the congress; did not oversee the implementation of the Act in any way.

However a fee months after the 9/11, it seemed like everything began to change as the evolution of the national security policies began to take place which not only posed a challenge to the American value of the civil liberties but posed a threat to the fundamental constitutional rights of the people who have little or no links with terrorism.

In light of this, the government violated the first and fourth amendments of the constitution. The first amendment gave the US citizens freedom of expression of ideas and religious views while the fourth amendment allows for an individual’s privacy (Walker, 2004).

The resulting terror and panic from the 9/11 tragedy directly led to the USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, passed by the House of Representatives on October 24, 2001 (United States Government, 2001).

This paper will explore among other things, the benefits of civil liberties, police simulation programs and how the police are an essential in upholding, protecting and ensuring every citizen has equal access to civil liberties. Police officer stimulation is necessary for all police officers in the United States of America should undergo in order to efficiently execute the constitutional role required to protect civil liberties.

This is even made worse by the porous and complex nature of modern transactions and the increasing demand for safe and secure information storage and retrieval mechanisms. The process of securing and protecting information refers to defending data and information from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, inspection, use or destruction (Layton, 2007).

However, there have been instances when the state itself deprived its citizens of these rights. Example of Imam Jamil Al-Amin is one such example of infringements of basic civil rights. Jamil Al-Amin is a dominant name in the history of African Americans and their struggle for civil rights.

In the United States, the copyright Act denies protection to any article of utilitarian function. This implies any article, which is used in everyday purposes beyond artistic expression. Fashion designs fall in this category of artistic work with utilitarian function.

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights1Convention states that: "Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. There shall be no interference by a public authorityexcept in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others".

One of the controversial liberties is the liberty to take one’s own life. The issue often occurs when the patient is terminally ill. Most patients do not want to continue their suffering (Blanco, 2014). Consequently, some request their medical doctors to end the

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